Dragoon, Variant (4e Class)

From D&D Wiki

This page is of questionable balance. Reason: Needs an immediate interrupt charge attack to enforce its mark. Jump seems unnecessarily complicated, and breaks the initiative flow in a way that interacts poorly with interrupts, ready and delay actions. Maybe it should be reworded to use the existing Ready Action rules.

You can help D&D Wiki by better balancing the mechanics of this page. When the mechanics have been changed so that this template is no longer applicable please remove this template. If you do not understand balance please leave comments on this page's talk page before making any edits.Edit this Page | All pages needing balance

Many different stories have been told about the Dragoons. In some they are premier dragon slayers, charged with protecting castles, hoards, towns and citizens from the capriciousness of all dragons. In other tales they are draconic warriors, emulating dragons with their awe-inspiring leaps, revering dragons as majestic lords. Legends of them say they could leap thousands of feet into the sky and crash upon their foes like ballista spears. It has been said they were trained by dragons, warriors that were taken under the aegis of a dragon, or dragons, given otherworldly skills and served as retainers and defenders. Or, they trained to slay dragons, studying them, training to make incredible jumps in order to bring down flying dragons.

As with most legends, there is a modicum truth in every accounting. The Dragoons were originally warriors trained by lesser dragons to serve as troops in combat, which dragons first began this is lost to history. They were imbued with a small amount of the dragons power and were shuttled into combat on the backs of dragons. One of the powers that they were given was the ability to fall from great heights without suffering damage, so they could leap from the backs of dragons as they circled high overhead. As time progressed other dragons picked up this practice, and, as with all things, conflicts arose.

Dragoons were now trained by all manner of dragons, chromatics, metallics even the occasional catastrophic, scourge and planar. Soon enough there were troops of Dragoons that were trained to hunt dragons. New abilities were added to their repertoire so that they might fight against dragons, instead of just for them. In order to strike down flying dragons, they developed the ability to make fantastical leaps into the air. They were trained primarily in the use of spears and javelins, though many still used other weapons, axes, swords, staves, etc. And some of the more fantastical tales speak of renowned dragoons emulating the characteristics of their patron dragon. This included, but was not limited to, imbuing their weapon with breath attack of their patron.

Now, there rose among many of the ranks a contempt for dragons, seeing in them a temperamental and fickle nature and so they defected. For many years afterward, the dragoons warred and were decimated by opposing troops and by the dragons. A short time into the conflict, discontented contingents from all of the dragoon troops met in a secret enclave and decided to depart. Although they still revered dragons, they believed that their current benefactors had gotten lost in the conflict. They knew that the loyal troops and the dragons could never suffer them to leave, and so they retreated to the shadowfell and faded from the world, living on only in legend. Those troops that did not retreated were eventually destroyed, if they did not fall to other dragoons they were killed by furious dragons.

Thus, the legend of dragoons was born as the true dragoons disappeared. As the true dragoons lived on in the shadowfell they undoubtedly changed. They never lost their reverence for dragons, but took on the characteristics of the shadow. Their armor was slowly blackened by the darkness, many of the powers became characterized by shadow and they began to merge slowly with the darkness. Some of the contingents banded together and established cities and an occasional castle. They still practice their skills and organize staged raids to keep sharp. Their society has remained stable and small over the many eons that they have been in exile, through strict discipline and an elective aristocracy.

Dragoon Overview

Characteristics: Like any front-line fighter, you are durable, strong and know who to take a hit. Even though you wear heavy armor your natural abilities allow you to move as quickly as if you wearing cloth. You are not skilled at performing ranged attacks, but with your incredible jumping ability you can close the distance between you and an attacker almost as fast as the arrow from a Ranger's bow.

Religion: The most obvious deities that Dragoons worship are Tiamat and Bahamut, indeed many revere both deities as aspects of Io even if they follow the path of one or the other. Many also follow the tenets of Moradin, who demands loyalty, and the Raven Queen, whose dark visage and residence in the Shadowfell reflects them.

Races: All Dragoons rely on Strength and Constitution, and, depending on the path you choose, may rely on Dexterity and/or Charisma. Dragonborn are a natural choice for Dragoons, Goliaths, Half-Elves, Halfling, Human and Half-Orc are the most common races seen in Dragoon settlements.

You can choose any dragoon powers you like for your character, but dragoons naturally fall into two basic groups: the draconic defender and the dragon marauder. All dragoons rely on Strength. Dragoons also need some Dexterity and/or Charisma, depending on what abilities and skills you choose. All dragoons rely on Constitution as well.

You're not as quick as other Dragoons but you are durable and excel in close combat. You are highly resilient and hard to hit. You need Strength in order to perform most of your attacks and Constitution in order to take hits. You will also want to have a high Charisma as it can offer beneficial effects with your attacks.

The first respondent when a crises occurs, you are the quickest to strike. All Dragoons use their strength to attack, so that should be your highest ability score. Since many of your attacks focus on jumping, you should make Dexterity a priority, and all Dragoons need Constitution.

During your hay-day as dragoons you were invested with the ability to suffer no damage from any fall, no matter how high. Though the power has waned you still suffer little damage from great falls. You can fall an additional 10 feet without taking any damage. Increase to 20 feet at level 11 and 30 feet at level 21.

The call of a dragon is a menacing roar that grabs the attention of your foes. You can use the dragon's call power to mark an enemy of your choice.

Dragon's Call

Dragoon variant Class Feature

You call out a deafening roar at your foe. Regardless of race, size or courage, any creature can tell this is a challenge to the death.

At-Will Shadow

Immediate Reaction

Close burst 10

Trigger: You or an Ally is Attacked

Target: One creature in burst

Effect: You mark the target. The target remains marked until you use this power against another target or if you fail to attack the target on your turn. A creature can be subject to only one mark at a time. A new mark supersedes a mark that was already in place. While a target is marked, it takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls for any attack that doesn't include you as a target.

When performing a jump attack your range for the attack is equal to your speed with all applicable modifiers +2. However, in order to use the jump ability you have to have one square of height (~5 feet.) for each square of distance (~5 feet.) you attempt to cover. So if you are in a underground dungeon or mine shaft with a ten foot ceiling, this effectively limits the distance you can jump to only 2 squares. If you are out in the open without any height restrictions, you can leap the full distance, easily placing you in the front lines as one of the quickest responders of any class.

When the jump attack is first declared you must target a specific creature or square. The time, based off of initiative, it takes for you to complete the attack is equal to 15 minus the higher of either your Dexterity or Charisma modifier.

When the attack is completed you may modify the target square by up to three squares back towards your starting position. Thus, if the target moves, or an ally makes an attack on a different enemy that you wish to exploit you can do so. During the time between declaring your attack and completing it, you are considered flying and may be targeted by appropriate ranged attacks, flying creatures, etc. with all appropriate modifiers; and allies and enemies can move through your square as if you were not there (which you aren't).

When you complete the attack you can land in the closest adjacent square to the target or 2 squares back from it, however, if you do not land adjacent to the target, you will provoke an opportunity attack from that target. If you modified your target after declaring you must land adjacent to your new target. Performing a jump attack adjacent to an enemy will provoke an opportunity attack (since it is ranged).

I.e. Kain, a dragoon, Horus, a fighter, and a goblin roll initiatives of 20, 15, and 12, respectively. Kain then makes a jump attack and has a 6 for his Dexterity modifier. Kain would leap into the air, Horus would complete his entire turn, and then Kain would complete his attack, including attack and hit rolls, before the goblin takes his turn. After Kain attacks the goblin he will either be in any square adjacent to the goblin, or 2 squares away, provoking an opportunity attack by the goblin.

If an attack has the impale keyword you can choose to attempt to impale the target if you are currently wielding a spear or polearm. Impaling a target functions similarly to a grab, in as much as the creature must be within melee reach (don't count extra reach from a weapon), and it requires a Strength vs. Reflex check. The target is considered grabbed and the use of your weapon is restricted until the impaling action is ended. You can choose to either maintain a one-handed grip on weapon, in which case the target is considered restrained, or let go of your weapon and the target is simply immobilized.

You can only use impale abilities if the attack hits. The impaled creature can attempt to make an escape check in order to free itself. You can end an impaling action at any time as a minor action.

Additional powers other than your at-will lunge will be able to impale targets, and some will have additional effects if the target is already impaled.

Chromatic dragons are generally followers of the evil deity Tiamat, and delight in wealth, greed and envy. However, not all chromatics follow the path of Tiamat, and among those that do there is variety.

Perhaps you worship a chromatic who still follows the ways of Tiamat and you yourself are envious and greedy. Or you worship a chromatic dragon that follows out of pure convenience, they do not particularly care for the teachings of Tiamat, nor do they care otherwise. Or perhaps you worship one of the very few chromatics who reject the teachings of Tiamat. You do not have to be evil to have reverence for the power of a chromatic dragon, but you would be hard pressed to be lawful good and revere any but the rarest chromatic dragon. (Requires: unaligned or below alignment)

Metallic dragons revere the Platinum Dragon Bahamut as their originator. As followers of Bahamut, metallic dragons uphold the values of justice, protection, nobility, honor. Thus, they are nearly always good and lawful.There are certainly those that have turned away from Bahamut but they are few and far between. It is very rare to find a dragoon that is not unaligned, good or lawful good to revere a metallic dragon. (Requires: unaligned or above alignment)

Metallic dragons include gold, silver, copper, iron, and adamantite, the lesser known metallics include brass and bronze.

Planar dragons are the most recent addition to the array of dragon families. They are dragons that migrated from the natural world to other planes and were dramatically changed by their new environments. This includes the Abyss, the Astral Plane, the Elemental Planes (or Elemental Chaos), the Feywild, and the Shadowfell (or Plane of Shadow). Chromatic dragons seem to be the most susceptible to the off-world energies, but planar dragons come from all different types. Neither abyssal dragons nor elemental dragons are revered by dragoons.

Dragons of the Astral Plane that are revered by dragoons include mithral dragons, pact dragons and battle dragons.

Pact dragons are descendents of red dragons that formed a pact with the Githyanki. They are smaller and darker than red dragons, and their eyes are silvery-white like the Astral Sea. Pact dragons are generally considered evil. No dragoon that considers himself good or lawful would revere a pact dragon. (Requires: unaligned or below alignment)

Battle dragons, however, are mostly unaligned, thirsting for battle for its own sake. They resemble a powerful cross between a red dragon and a gold dragon. They are found serving deities on all sides, but especially those whose servants are actively attacking or defending. More than one battle dragon stood alongside a powerful devil or demon during the Blood War. And many battle dragons have defended the heavens against infernal incursions.(Requires: none)

Mirage and wretch dragons are the only dragons of the Feywild that are esteemed by dragoons. The tiny yet potently charming faerie dragons just don't have what it takes to be a symbol of power to a dragoon.
Mirage dragons live in pristine Feywild forests and consider the Eladrin to be kindred spirits. To that end, only those with a fey origin gain any favor with mirage dragons. (Requires: Eladrin, Elf or Half-Elf race)
Wretch dragons are twisted, gruesome echoes of purple dragons that dwell in the Feydark. They serve as guards and even slaves to the Fomorians and are the natural enemy of fey folk. Only evil, non-fey dragoons revere them. (Requires: evil or chaotic evil alignment and cannot be Eladrin, Elf or Half-Elf)

Within the Shadowfell dwell the blight dragons, harbingers of disease and destruction who closely mirror the visage of the brown dragons. Blight dragons are generally considered to be evil, leaving a transformed desolate waste in their wake. However, some blight dragons are more disinterested than actively destructive.

Also within the Shadowfell abide the shadow dragons. Often treacherous and skulking, they are shadowy stalkers whose dark hide and translucent scales often make them appear insubstantial, if they are seen at all.

Everything within the Shadowfell is seen by the outside world to be dark and evil, and while this is very often the case, everything has a dark side and the Shadowfell is the dark side of the world. However, there are a very few "bright" spots even there. Well, perhaps not bright, but much less dark. It is the same with blight dragons and shadow dragons. Though rarely good, there are many that are not purely evil. They are simply, dark. (Requires: unaligned or below alignment)

Lastly, are the dracolichs which can arise from any dragon. They are intensely evil creatures. Many dracoliches have had the unholy rites inflicted upon them and their wills subverted in the process. Others entered into dracolichdom by choice as a path to immortality. Often these are the more dangerous of the breed. (Requires: evil or chaotic evil alignment)